Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Circuit of the Americas, 2019

Verstappen: Hamilton “drove like no one was there” in Q2 incident

2019 F1 season

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Max Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat blamed Lewis Hamilton for the incident between the three of them during Q2.

However the stewards decided not to investigate the mix-up which led to Verstappen driving off the circuit to avoid the other two. “Lewis fucked us all so it’s his fucking problem this, what’s happening,” the Red Bull driver complained on the radio at the time.

Hamilton overtook Verstappen on the way into turn 16 during their out-laps on their final runs in Q2. The pair then caught Kvyat, who Hamilton overtook, while Verstappen cut across the inside of turn 19 as he tried to re-pass the Mercedes. He then passed Hamilton at the exit of the corner.

“We were all lining up to do our lap,” said Verstappen. “It was Seb, the first Ferrari, then Charles. And then I had Danny [Kvyat] in front of me.

“We were all just slowing down to make space and Lewis just drove by like nobody was there and didn’t care. So I was like, well if you don’t care I don’t care. I wanted to get my position back because everybody is just respecting each other at that point just to start the lap. And that’s why it was such a close call.”

Kvyat also thought Hamilton was primarily to blame.

“I don’t know what they were doing to be honest,” he said. “It was quite stupid – not stupid, but just not necessary. I don’t understand why they were racing on their out-laps so much.

“In the end it just made a mess of all three of us, compromised the lap of all three of us, I had to start the lap with very cold tyres, but still it was OK.”

“Normally you want to have a order but if some other drivers don’t respect this order then this mess happens,” Kvyat added. “I think it was Lewis particularly.

“But it doesn’t matter. If it’s Q2 he’s already in Q3 by miles but for me it’s a problem. In the end he tried to be the first, but he started the lap behind most of us. So I didn’t understand what it was all about.”

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2019 F1 season

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30 comments on “Verstappen: Hamilton “drove like no one was there” in Q2 incident”

  1. Max being a bit of a cry baby again.

    1. Exactly! I knew it would be turned into Max fault. Most of the people on this site are so predictable… Well lets just hope that the UK Baby wonder (of which I am a huge fan btw despite him making it harder to like him everytime he holds a microphone) holds on to the top class material (which is his on merit, for sure) he’s got, so he can cruise to the next title

      1. Last week Max threw away pole because he didnt care for the yellow, and didnt care who knew about it. This week Ham overtook Max way before the start of the build up to a hot lap as Max was dawdling. So Max decides to throw away his preparations and the lap to overtake both Kyvat and Ham at the same corner.
        So remind us again why Max deliberately threw away his own lap and then cried its all Hamiltons fault?

        1. Ian… Lewis did what Max did and Max did what Lewis did… the only difference was the flag waved just seconds later. Both saw the incident, bit saw debree on track… both didn’t see yellow, the only difference was one guy somewhere in a corner waving a small yellow flag.

          Drivers should lift significantly, not just tenth’s of second immediately when they see an incident with a car + driver + possible marshal’s on the side of the track…. they shouldn’t just lift a tenth cause of a flag, they should lift out of respect and the safety of others. Lewis was morally no better than Max in Mexico, but got cleared by rules.

          Lewis post quali and race comments of last week haven;t been received to well… it was all quite hypocrite and plainly disrespectful…. not respecting track position during a warm up lap and making a last minute overtake is what obviously triggered Max…. let’s agree they are two roosters in a to small chicken house at the moment

  2. Mmmm!!!! Who is getting into who’s head?

  3. Lewis just drove by like nobody was there and didn’t care

    Now Max is worried he isn’t in Lewis’s head all the time, make your mind up!
    I really didn’t understand how Verstappen didn’t anticipate Hamilton was going to pull out to overtake the much slower Kyvat. It was obvious what was going to happen ages before, so why he stuck to his rear axle, no idea.
    That said, definitely an underpar and slightly odd qualifying session from Hamilton.

    1. @david-br

      I was thinking the same think. Hamilton seems to be in a rut. He sounds that way, and hasn’t had a pole in ages, and Bottas beat him in Japan.

      And yet he won the last race, and is (slightly) favored to seal his 6 title tommorow. We all need ruts like that.

      1. Hamilton tends to go off the boil a little once it’s pretty much a slam dunk championship. Everybody always thinks he’s starting to crumble then he comes back the next year & cruises it

      2. @slotopen I think qualifying hasn’t been his focus for whatever reason all season. Race performance has been fine, sometimes spectacularly good, so like you said, if it’s a ‘rut’ it’s a very relative one. I did think this qualifying performance (Q3) was oddly bad though. @ Dave, tend to agree. Hamilton focuses on easing into the championship, then applying maximum concentration mid-season, like this year, rattling of the poles and wins, and basically putting the title beyond contention. After that, more of a cruise, or at least dependent more on whether he’s into chasing more wins or not (last year it seemed so).

      3. He was .3s off pole. He picked the wrong race to have a touch of snap oversteer in one corner. All these guys are good. You have to be perfect for pole and he’s human.

        If he makes it past t1 I expect him to be following Bottas home in 2nd. He’s fast in the races and his tire management is just better than Bottas by far.

    2. Everybody was lining up for a fast lap, Kvyat at that moment last in the cue. Max preparing to line up behind Kvyat and then Lewis just passed. Looks more like Lewis is trying to get into Max’ head hoping to try a little advantage for next season already.

  4. I’m with the Red Bull guys here.
    They where all lined up and ready to go, then Hamilton just disregarded everybody and just went through.

    Kinda like cutting in a line

    1. Overtaking close to the start of a new fast lap in qualifying is against the unwritten rules amongst drivers. It’s disrespectful again… Max did the right thing he scr**** Lewis right back Either Lewis stops with being annoying like that or he will be held up in key moments as a form of revenge/education. It’s a dangerous game since a hit from Kvyat could have ended his qualifying. A hit from Max could have destroyed Lewis’s floor and ended qualifying. Max was in a position to dish out some form of retaliation. Weird that Lewis would risk his title chances just to try and get a psychological advantage over Max.

    2. and then Max tried to cut the two of them at the same time. So what was Max doing trying to get past Kyvat?

      1. Max wasn’t trying to get past Kvyat, he just tried to get past Lewis again.

    3. Ipsom, as ian notes, given that Verstappen stated he wanted to “get my position back” and was therefore overtaking others in order to do so, he was also disregarding everybody else – so, if you’re complaining about the behaviour of one driver, then you should also complain about the behaviour of the other.

      Furthermore, what exactly do you expect Kvyat to say? He’s not going to go against the position of Red Bull, particularly if there might still be an outside chance of that second seat at Red Bull in the future, so of course he will back them to the hilt – if he wasn’t already told that is exactly what he must do.

      1. He was fed up by Hamilton, that what he was…nothing more, nothing less

        1. Yup, as can be seen on the Skypad, Hamilton passed Max way before the end of the prep lap, at speed, and was well clear of Max. Max decided to catch Ham to make a point. Unless he saw himself as a white knight for Kyvat?
          And the next time Max has cold tyres on a prep lap he’s gonna speed up and overtake the cars who are going slower. Then it’ll be Ok according to Max.

  5. The only way Max’s complaint makes sense, is if Max believes he’s the only driver who matters at any time on the track. For him, F1 is truly, all about him, and no one else matters– and no one has any rights on the track besides Max.

    If challenged, Max finds someone else to shift the blame to, or failing that, shift the focus of discussion to.

  6. Jose Lopes da Silva
    3rd November 2019, 8:57

    The blame is on the qualifying system, designed to generate these situations.

  7. Ohh is poor Maxy-Waxy upset at nasty Lewis still?

    Yeah right Max. Kvyat slow into corner, Lewis takes avoiding action and you were impetuous AGAIN. Why don’t you learn to calm down a little? If you don’t you’ll never be WDC, just Crashtappen.

  8. OH! The irony of this is Magnificent!
    Go Max! Top Banker with a W when he really goes for it!!!
    LMBO! Best Biter Bit of the season so far!!

    1. thatscienceguy
      3rd November 2019, 12:19

      wot?

    2. YouTube comments section wormhole located.

  9. It seems to me that some sort of planning is required in order to be able to start a timed lap with the right amount of space in front and behind. It also amazes that the top three or four bother to do a second run in Q1 and Q2 when they are clearly in no danger.
    Far from abolishing the start on Q2 tyres I think it should go to start on Q3 tyres used on the fastest lap. Instead, next year we are reverting to the front of the field streaking away just as it used to be before the current rule was introduced.

  10. You’d have to be a complete idiot to try to overtake a car on the inside that is already trying to overtake another car on the inside.

  11. Think HAM is sitting there in Q2 already qualified for Q3 for the millionth time and decided to have some fun with “I’m in HAM’s head” VER. Once up to speed poor Kvyat is a sitting duck as he’s day dreaming about driving a real car. The 2 most dangerous drivers are those that have nothing to lose and those that have already won. VER needs to be concerned about beating ALB. He isn’t beating HAM this year.

    1. lmao gratz for making the most ignorant comment of the month. You sure must be proud lol

      1. Not sure how my comment is ignorant. I didn’t see an interview where HAM explains why he did what he did in Q2. There was no racing related reason to pass VER and KVY when he did. I stand by my opinion that HAM did it solely to annoy VER.

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